Local TV Station Mourns The Death Of Former Reporter Dan Cimmino

Staff at CBS-TV affiliate KPAX-TV of the Montana Television Network are mourning the passing of former news and sports reporter Dan Cimmino, who passed away on Saturday in Florida at the age of only 28 from an aggressive form of cancer.

One if Cimmino's close friends in Missoula was meteorologist Russ Thomas, who shared Dan's story.

"Last July, after Dan went to work at a TV station in Florida, he posted a YouTube video where he broke the news that he had a rare and very aggressive form of cancer," Thomas said. "He went through two rounds of chemotherapy and neither was successful in slowing the disease which started in the bowel and traveled to his liver where it really attacked."

One very telling tribute came from Thomas, who said Cimmino would be an example to his own children of courage and character.

"I've got three kids, 20, 17 and 14," he said. " I thought if they could emulate the kind of person he was and the way he lived, that's the kind of guy that I would like my kids to model themselves after."

This reporter worked side by side with Cimmino on several stories in the years he spend in Missoula, and was thoroughly friendly and professional. He will be missed.